All You Need is Kill with Nathan Philpott

This Book I Read...

00:00 / 36:43

This month CM Lowry is talking to author Nathan Philpott about All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka in ‘This Book I Read…’

Topics covered include:

Nathan and Chris discuss struggling with pronunciations, translation difficulties and seeking to be culturally sensitive and respectful to the creator
Nathan shares a quote with the listeners that illustrates the intensity of Sakurazaka’s writing and the fact that the title is a clear indication of what’s going to happen in this book.
Spoiler Alert – Humanity is fighting an alien invasion and the the main plot of the book is about a soldier, who is stuck in a 30 hour time loop, seeking to find a way out of it by training himself to survive longer each time and kill a certain number of special aliens in order to break out of the loop.
Nathan shares his favourite thing about the book
- When he first red it at sixteen years of age Nathan felt that he could relate to the main protagonist, who is a young man who has joined the army after a romantic rejection. The story of his experiences were really gripping to teenage Nathan
- As a 28 year old Nathan is perhaps less interested in some aspects of the book but still enjoys re-reading it, even if just to recapture the headspace of being a teenager again.
- It’s a thrilling and compelling read.
The book is written in an interesting manner – switching from a first person narrative when the protagonist, Keiji, is the focus of narrative, and then into third person for everything else.
Nathan also shares some things he doesn’t enjoy about the book
- There are some ‘interesting’ ideas about women – mostly written from the perspective of the soldiers. Although these seems to fit the characters it’s still uncomfortable to read.
The storyline has a somewhat philosophical development, alongside the training that Keiji does. Keiji becomes increasingly detached from everything going on around him until, SPOILER ALERT, he comes across Rita, another solider who is also living in a time loop.
Nathan talks about the climax of the book, and how it resonates with him, but yet he doesn’t necessarily enjoy it
- Because Rita has been through the loop so many times, she’s become like one of the special aliens, and Keiji must kill her in order to break out of the loop. And so our ‘hero’ protagonist makes a purely selfish decision and kills Rita in order to break out of the loop. And Nathan doesn’t like this, although he gets swept up in it every time he re-reads the novel.
Chris asks ‘Why should listeners read All You Need is Kill
- It’s nice and short, so an easy quick read
- It’s got some really interesting original ideas, as well as clever reworkings of common literary tropes
- There is very little fluff – the story telling style keeps things moving
- And you might find yourself empathising with the main character doing some pretty selfish things
Nathan shares recommendations another book that our readers might enjoy
- Slum Online by Hiroshi Sakurazaka
Nathan & Chris have a chat about the film adaptation of All You Need is Kill – Edge of Tomorrow starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt
Chris asks Nathan to share a bit about his novel, Machina Fantasia, published by Beyond Cataclysm